Candice Collier (left) with her younger daughter Collette Slikker (17).
Season of Sharing story about Candice Collier, a 47-year-old Martinez mother of two teenager daughters who has terminal cancer. She has been told that she has a few months to live. She needs assitance with food, and making her bills and house payments.
Event on 11/26/03 in Martinez.
MICHAEL MALONEY / The Chronicle

A memorial service will be held Sunday for Candice Collier, the engaging coffee shop worker who inspired her hometown of Martinez to rally behind her battle with cancer.

Ms. Collier died Feb. 13 of colon cancer at a rehabilitation center in Walnut Creek. She was 47.

The Chronicle profiled Ms. Collier in a Season of Sharing Fund story in December. After being diagnosed with terminal colon cancer, she expressed a desire to stay at home with her two teenage daughters. Contributions from the fund helped to cover her mortgage payments.

Last month, a Blues for Candy musical benefit concert at a Martinez bar raised $10,200 for Collier, who was too ill to attend. The cross-section of attendees -- bikers, politicians, attorneys and refinery workers -- spoke to the range of people she touched, said Kimberly Stritt, a friend and co- organizer of the event.

At the benefit, a Martinez motorcycle club donated $500, a ski instructor auctioned off the use of her Lake Tahoe home for a weekend, and 97 other raffle prizes were contributed. Last fall, a Taste of Martinez benefit raised several thousand more dollars.

Many of the donors were her former customers at Legal Grounds Coffee, the downtown Martinez coffee shop where she worked for nearly a decade. Working there, Ms. Collier told The Chronicle in December, helped the ex- methamphetamine user to turn her life around. Friends said customers were warmed by the sight of her smile and waist-length auburn hair.

"She didn't just say hi and give you a cup of coffee," said Dave Masters, her boss at Legal Grounds until he sold the shop last year. "She'd engage people, get to know about their lives."

Through her final days, customers would still drop checks ranging from $10 to $100 at the shop "for Candy," Masters said.

"In 16 years as a social worker, she touched me more than anyone," said Lorraine Gaul, a social worker with Contra Costa County. "Just because of her love for life. She'd never tell you she was in pain."

Ms. Collier is survived by two daughters, Colleen and Collette Slikker of Martinez; and a son, Michael Collier of Fremont.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Telfer Hall, 604 Ferry St., Martinez. Contributions to a memorial fund for her family may be sent to Candy Collier Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 907, Martinez, CA 94553.